Frictional draft-gear for railroad-cars.



A. C. IVIATHER.

FRICTIONAL DRAFT GEAR FOR RAILROAD CARS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 12, 1914.

Llfiwfifm, Patented @1125, 1916.

.IF E -2 ALONZO C. MATHER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FRICTIGNAL DRAFT-GEAR FOR RAILROAD-CAR$ Application filed October 12, 19141.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALoNzo C. MATI-IER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Frictional Draft-Gear for Railroad-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a draft gear and an automatic takeup for the wear or setting of the springs in a frictional draft gear and the objects of my invention are, first, to improve the efiiciency of the draft gear; second, to automatically take up the lost motion between the parts of a frictional draft gear resulting from wear and setting of the springs; third, to make a simple, durable and effective device which can be substituted for coil springs in the present draft gear and other features, apparent from the description to follow.

Frictional draft gears as heretofore made have usually operated satisfactorily so long as there was no perceptible wear on the parts or setting of the springs but after the parts become worn and some lost motion was apparent between the parts the working of the same was very unsatisfactory and objectionable on account of excessive slack. By the use of my invention these objectionable fea tures are eliminated and the parts necessarily give better and longer service.

To describe my invention so that others versed in the art to which it pertains can make and use the same I have illustrated it on the accompanying sheet of drawing forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1, is a fragmentary plan view of dravw gear having my invention embodied therein; Fig. 2, is a vertical sectional view of the same partly in elevation; Fig. 3, is a detail sectional view showing the take up features of my invention, and Fig. 4-, is a detail-sectional view taken on line H of Fi 1.

gimilar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

To avoid changing any of the standard made parts of a draw gear I prefer to adapt my invention to the standard make of parts, and accordingly, I have shown the conventional side plates at which are secured by bolts to the car sills not shown. The coupler is shown at 5 which is rigidly secured to the spring yoke 6 extending about the follower plates 7 8 and 9 in the usual way. The car- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 25, 1916.

Serial No. 886,201.

rier plates 1.0 are bolted to the under side of plates 1 to retain the follower platesl, 8 and 9 in position, and the side plates fl: are provided with the usual stops 11 against which the follower plates 7, 8 and 9 are arranged to strike in operation.

Between the follower plates 7 and 8 I have illustrated the customary springs 12, and be tween the follower plates 8 and 9 I have illustrated my improved frictional device which comprises the wedge 13 arranged to move with follower plate 8 and the Wedge 14 arranged to move with follower plate 9; each wedge is provided with a suitable socket into which are fitted suitable projections 15 integral with the follower plates 8 and 9. The wedges 13 and 1 1 are arranged counterpoise to each other and between the blocks 16 and 17 which are yieldingly forced toward each other by suitable springs interposed betweensaid blocks and the adjacent stops 11. The blocks 16 and 17 are held in vertical position by the yoke 6 and are free to move in a horizontal plane against the force exerted by their respective springs and their frictional contact with other parts.

The spring shown in connection with the block 16 is a leaf spring18 while the one shown in connection with the block 17 is a coiled spring 19, however they both serve the same purpose which is to force the blocks 16 and 17 toward each other. In actual practice, for economys sake, the springs would all be of the same kind, whichever is considered the best for the particular purpose to which it is applied.

The leaf spring 18 has its two free ends bear against a suitable plate 20 arranged to slide on the stop 11 as the spring 18 and block, 16 are moved one way or the other in operation. Similarly the end of spring 19 sets on a flanged plate 21 which slides on stop 11 as the block 17 is moved in operation. Obviously the two blocks 16 and 17 move in unison since their movement is effected by the wedges 13 and 14 which are in constant contact with both.

In operation a push on the coupler 5 will tend to move the follower plates 7 and 8 to the right as viewed in the drawing and of course move the wedge 13 toward the wedge 14, forcing the blocks 16 and 17 apart against the tension of their respective springs. Similarly if a pull is exerted on the coupler 5 the follower plate 9 will be moved toward thefollower plate 8 to the ion left and of course move the wedge 14: toward the wedge 13 forcing the blocks 16 and 17 apart against the'tension of their respective springs. It will be understood that the follower plates 7, 8 and 9 will assume their normal position as shown in the drawing, immediately upon releasing the push or pull on the coupler 5, by reason of the yelding pressure exerted by the springs.

Experience has shown that in time the springs become set or partly set, z. 6., the springs lose a portion of their resilient property, and will not extend to the desired distance, which of course causes some lost motion between the blocks 16 and 17 and the springs 18 and 19 and reduces the efficiency of the device. To compensate for, or take up, this lost motion I have devised an automatic means comprising a wedge shaped block 22 arranged to slide vertically in a suitable groove provided therefor in the blocks 16 and 17. As clearly seen in Fig. 3, the block 22 is arranged to bear against the spring. The blocks 22 are made tapering from a thin portion at the bottom to a thicker portion at the top so that as the said block 22 moves down by force of gravity it will take up any lost motion which might appear.

A small coiled expanding spring 23 is preferably interposed between the upper end of block 22 and the yoke to hold the wedge shaped block 22 in its lowermost position.

The block 22 may be formed with a plurality of tapering surfaces as indicated in Fig. 3, and I preferably interpose a plate 24 between the wedge shaped block 22 and the springs.

It will be understood that various modifications may be made without in the least departing from the scope of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim as new and desire by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In a device of the class described, two oppositely disposed wedges, two blocks provided with inclined surfaces to fit against said wedges, suitable springs to yieldingly press said two blocks toward each other and copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Washington, D. C.

and the springs comprising vertically nrovable wedges. v I I 3. In a device of the class described, two

oppositely disposed wedges, two blocks provided with inclined surfaces to fit against v said wedges, suitable springs for pressing said blocks toward each other, said blocks provided with vertical grooves, and means interposed between each block and its ad jacent spring for automatically taking up the lost motion between the springs and the blocks comprising vertically movable wedges arranged to slide in the grooves provided in said blocks.

4. In a device of the class described, side castings, each casting provided with stops for followers to abut against, and intermediate friction surfaces, suitable followers, oppositely disposed wedges, friction blocks having inclined friction faces, bearing against said wedges, suitable springs, the adjacent ends of said springs bearing against said friction blocks, wearing shoes, the opposite ends of said springs being seated in said shoes, and said shoes in contact with and movable on said intermediate friction surfaces on said side castings.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in presence of two subscribing witnesses this 10th day of October, 1914, at Chicago, Illinois.

ALONZO C. MATHER.

Witnesses Riel-Io. J. JACKER, i Loorsn K. LANNAN.

Commissioner of Patents,

being 

